In an essay about Mexican-Americans in the '50s titled "The Pachuco and Other Extremes," Mexican writer and Nobel Prize winner Octavio Paz writes that we "distinguish ourselves from other peoples by our creations, rather than by the dubious originality of our character — which was the result, perhaps, of constantly changing circumstances."

As our numbers rise quickly, many have attempted to define Latinos in America — often rooted in a desire to market to us rather than truly understand us as a people. That frenetic race to determine what a "Latino" is often leads to crass generalizations and stereotyping. And, let's be honest, we're as guilty of stereotyping as anyone else: We find ourselves in a time of tectonic sociopolitical shifts which are as terrifying as they are exciting, so that frantic desire to self-define comes as no surprise.

Stereotypes, many say, are rooted in some (often minuscule) truth. But they are also a petrification of qualities that, Paz notes, have to do with circumstances. They don't allow for evolution, complexity, an explanation.

On Alt.Latino, we agree with Paz that we are what we create — and respond by celebrating and discussing those creations. The music, the literature, the culture; the good, the bad, and that about which we're not yet quite sure.

Join us this week, as we discuss new musical creations and what they say about us, with stops in Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Chile, New York and L.A.